Psychological responses, behavioral changes and public perceptions during the early phase of the COVID-19 outbreak in China: a population based cross-sectional survey

Mengcen Qian; Qianhui Wu; Peng Wu; Zhiyuan Hou; Yuxia Liang; Benjamin J Cowling; Hongjie Yu

Analyses were carried out in Stata version 14 for Windows. Descriptive analysis of the aforementioned responses was performed to report the counts and frequencies, stratified by cities. Differences across cities were examined using t tests for dummy variables and Chisquare or fisher's exact tests (when applicable) for variables measured by a Likert scale. The primary outcomes were moderate or severe anxiety (GAD-7 score ≥10), and whether respondents engaged in all recommended and avoidance behaviors. Multivariate logistic regression models were first used to estimate associations between personal characteristics and primary outcomes. These models adjusting for personal characteristics were then used to investigate associations between perception variables and primary outcomes. Perception variables were included in the form of continuous scores.